Several local couples are headed to Ireland to watch the Nittany Lions play the University of Central Florida.

Tom and Bev Traino fold a few of Tom's shirts as they pack for Ireland on Friday in their West Manchester Township home. The Trainos will be taking their first-ever trip outside the United States to see Penn State play the University of Central Florida in Ireland. (Chris Dunn — Daily Record/Sunday News)

Bev Traino's tour group tag hangs on her backpack Friday as she and husband Tom pack for their trip to Ireland. They leave Sunday and plan to spend eight days sightseeing as well as taking part in the Penn State festivities. (Chris Dunn — Daily Record/Sunday News)

Sharon Bowman and her husband, Ozzie, enjoy traveling.

They're both cancer survivors, and they don't take opportunities for granted.

"Whenever we have a chance to travel, we don't sit at home," she said. "If there's someplace we want to go, we go."

Until recently, Europe wasn't a place they really wanted to go.

Then the Bowmans, of York, learned that the Penn State Nittany Lions were heading to Ireland.

The couple have had Penn State football season tickets for about 45 years. Many of their friends are also season ticket holders. They've been to away games and bowl games, and thought Ireland could be a fun experience.

"We are older," Sharon Bowman said, noting she is 71 and her husband is 73. "You don't know how your health is going to be, so you take every moment and you run with it."

So they and 14 of their friends, several from York County, booked an 8-day trip to Ireland. The group, including a couple from Virginia who don't watch Penn State football but wanted to travel, will see the sights around Ireland and go watch Penn State play in the Croke Park Classic against the University of Central Florida.

Sharon Bowman said she hasn't always liked Penn State football. When she was a teenager, she recalled, she hated the game.

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But when her middle child started playing football, and she took him to games, she grew to love the game.

"It was so adorable," she said of watching her son play.

And when friends moved to Boalsburg and started inviting her husband to come out to Penn State games, she wanted to go along.

"It mushroomed from there," she said.

They got an RV and they tailgate with friends and family.

When the Bowmans and their friends don't go out to Beaver Stadium, they gather to watch the game on TV.

"It wasn't just a football game," Sharon Bowman said. "It became a social thing."

Bev and Tom Traino, of West Manchester Township, are among the other couples going to Ireland.

Tom Traino said he's primarily going along for his wife's sake.

"I've always been a Notre Dame fan," he said. "I did ask them if they would object if I wore one of my Notre Dame shirts on the tour, and they said they would throw me off the bus," he joked.

Traino, 73, said he and his wife, 72, married last October. Their previous spouses died, and Bev's late husband was a big Penn State fan. She and her late husband started going to Penn State games more than 30 years ago.

"I just married into it," Tom Traino said.

Bev Traino said she has never been out of the United States, except for one time when she took a cruise. She's excited to visit Ireland, and of course to support Penn State.

"It's just enjoyable to go out and root for a college team," she said. "It's fun to have something to root for. This is going to be a big experience."